Page 5 of Exposure of Murder

“Hey, Sheriff,” called out his deputy, Rosie Delgado. “We got a call from the Jenkins farm this morning.”

“The Jenkins farm? What’s going on?”

She ran her fingers through her short brown hair and then pinched the bridge of her nose before replying. “Someone broke a window in the barn last night,” Rosie replied.

“Okay.” He shrugged. “Probably just some kids.”

“Probably.” Rosie looked at the paper on her desk. “Although the owner was concerned because the barn door was locked.Clarence left his tools and supplies in there. It appeared that someone entered and rummaged through the contents.”

Odd. What could they have been looking for? He searched through his memory for the last time he’d been in the barn.

It’d been years, but what he remembered was a lot of old tools; barrels; parts of tractors covered in rust, the tractor long gone to tractor heaven; spare fencing; bales of hay falling apart; and cobwebs in the windows and hanging from the ceiling.

Clarence had been working there for a while, so Ethan bet most of the junk had been taken away.

So why would someone break in? And what were they looking for?

Four

“Okay, ladies. Into the happy baby pose.”

Jane groaned as she lay on her back, bent her knees toward her chest, then grabbed her feet while spreading her legs apart.Breathe in. Exhale. Repeat. Do not moan.

Before Savannah left, she made Jane promise to get out and meet people. Jane realized she’d been using self-pity as a way of not enjoying life.

Signing up for a yoga class was one of the first things she did for herself. Another was contacting Lily Mitchell of Rustic Roots. Lily lived down the street from Jane and was a farmer and artisan. She also was an encyclopedia of information about farming. Last, she met Claire Martinez at her art studio and gallery, Earth & Fire, when Jane signed up for pottery lessons.

“Good job, everyone. Don’t forget to breathe.” Jane felt a wisp of air by her side and glanced over. An ankle with a lotus blossom tattoo stood near her.

Emily Harper, the tall, blue-eyed blond owner of Serenity Spa, smiled down at her. “See, I told you it wouldn’t take long for you to catch on.”

“Ugh.” Jane released her feet and stretched out. “I know I’m supposed to be in a zone, but all I can think about is praying I don’t get stuck in this position. If the medics came and carried me out with my legs spread out like this, all people would see is my hoo-ha,” she whispered.

Emily bent over laughing. When she finally got control of herself, she shook her head. “You, my friend, are too funny. I promise if that happens, I’ll cover you with a blanket.” She leaned over and extended her hand. “Come on, get changed. We’ll stop by the Harvest Moon for a snack. Leah’s working today.”

A few weeks ago, Leah Farley had stopped by the booth that Jane and Emily were sharing to introduce herself. Since then, Emily, Claire and Lily made it a point to meet up once a week for drinks or to grab a bite to eat, especially if Leah was working at the diner. It felt good to have girlfriends again.

It didn’t take Jane long to change into street clothes, and in no time, they were walking down the sidewalk to the Harvest Moon Diner.

Beaver Creek was a small town, and it never ceased to amaze Jane how diversified it was.

Antique shops were intermingled with arts and crafts stores and clothing stores. It was a unique blend of artisan, functional and farm businesses. Kind of one-stop shopping. You could buy a dress to go to a fancy affair, a pair of handmade earrings to go with it and still order your chicks at the same time. She loved it. Everyone she’d met so far had been most welcoming.

Except for Sheriff “Grumpypants” McQueeney. He’d come by last week to investigate the broken window. He would have been handsome if he hadn’t been clenching his jaw, narrowing his eyes and shaking his head, asking her all sorts of inane questions. How did she know it wasn’t kids fooling around? Maybe a stone from the tractor broke the window. Was she sureshe didn’t notice it was broken before? Was this a scene for one of her mystery books?

No, no, and no. Besides, she wasn’t writing anything right now and wasn’t sure if she ever would again.

She finally told him to talk to Clarence. Ethan huffed, shook his head, and left. Jane wondered how he was ever in the same family as his brother Tanner, who was pleasant. Bah, not worrying about the grumpy sheriff. She had other things to worry about.

Clarence was only at the farm to renovate, but somehow, he got roped into helping her wrangle the sheep who got out one day. After an hour of chasing them around the farm, Jane was exhausted.

Who knew docile sheep had minds of their own? They’d scattered in fifty different directions. Luckily, she learned that shaking a feed bucket was the trick to corralling them.

Then Clarence had to show her how to set up a warming box for the chicks she ordered. He’d been a good sport about it, but it wasn’t his job.

The best news was that she now had help. Tom “Bucky” Marsh would start working at the farm later this week.

In a moment of serendipity, Bucky had helped catch the wayward sheep and mentioned to Jane he was looking for work. He seemed nice, although he looked a little down on his luck. But he was just looking for a hand up, not a handout—his words, not hers. God, she was a sucker for those who didn’t have it as good as she had, and she knew Mike certainly would have hired him. Besides, it wasn’t as if Bucky would be living on the farm.

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